Once Upon A Time

Little Red Cap

Once upon a time there was a dear little girl who was loved by
every one who looked at her, but most of all by her grandmother,
and there was nothing that she would not have given to the
child.

Once she gave her a little cap of red velvet, which suited her so
well that she would never wear anything else; so she was always
called Little Red-Cap.

One day her mother said to her, "Come, Little Red-Cap, here is a
piece of cake and a bottle of wine; take them to your grandmother,
she is ill and weak, and they will do her good. Set out before it
gets hot, and when you are going, walk nicely and quietly and do
not run off the path, or you may fall and break the bottle, and
then your grandmother will get nothing; and when you go into her
room, dont forget to say, Good-morning, and dont peep into every
corner before you do it."

"I will take great care," said Little Red-Cap to her mother, and
gave her hand on it.

The grandmother lived out in the wood, half a league from the
village, and just as Little Red-Cap entered the wood, a wolf met
her. Red-Cap did not know what a wicked creature he was, and was
not at all afraid of him.

"Good-day, Little Red-Cap," said he.
"Thank you kindly, wolf."
"Whither away so early, Little Red-Cap?"
"To my grandmothers."
"What have you got in your apron?"
"Cake and wine; yesterday was baking-day, so poor sick grandmother
is to have something good, to make her stronger."
"Where does your grandmother live, Little Red-Cap?"
"A good quarter of a league farther on in the wood; her house
stands under the three large oak-trees, the nut-trees are just
below; you surely must know it," replied Little Red-Cap.

The wolf thought to himself, "What a tender young creature! What
a nice plump mouthful! She will be better to eat than the old
woman. I must act craftily, so as to catch both."

So he walked for a short time by the side of Little Red-Cap, and
then he said, "See Little Red-Cap, how pretty the flowers are about
herewhy do you not look round? I believe, too, that you do not hear
how sweetly the little birds are singing; you walk gravely along as
if you were going to school, while everything else out here in the
wood is merry."

Little Red-Cap raised her eyes, and when she saw the sunbeams
dancing here and there through the trees, and pretty flowers
growing everywhere, she thought, "Suppose I take grandmother a
fresh nosegay; that would please her too. It is so early in the day
that I shall still get there in good time;" and so she ran from the
path into the wood to look for flowers. And whenever she had picked
one, she fancied that she saw a still prettier one farther on, and
ran after it, and so got deeper and deeper into the wood.

Meanwhile the wolf ran straight to the grandmothers house and
knocked at the door.

"Who is there?"
"Little Red-Cap," replied the wolf. "She is bringing cake and wine;
open the door."
"Lift the latch," called out the grandmother, "I am too weak, and
cannot get up."

The wolf lifted the latch, the door flew open, and without
saying a word he went straight to the grandmothers bed, and
devoured her. Then he put on her clothes, dressed himself in her
cap, laid himself in bed and drew the curtains....